The Private Life of the Brain - Hardcover

Greenfield, Susan A

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0713991925 ISBN 13: 9780713991925

Publisher: Allen Lane, 2000

Synopsis

Leading neuroscientist Susan Greenfield draws on her considerable expertise to explore the relationship between emotional experience and human brain processes. What happens to the brain when we experience road rage, orgasm, nightmares or raves? How do drugs act in the brain? How can we better understand schizophrenia and depression? Greenfield argues that it is only through exploring the neurological character of our most primitive emotions that we will ever begin to understand the mystery of consciousness.

About this title

Review:

What's going on in there? One of the great scientific and philosophical mysteries is how a few pounds of wet, salty cobwebs can give rise to the rich experience that we call consciousness. Oxford neuroscientist Susan Greenfield peers inside the dimly lit skull to show us what she thinks is going on in The Private Life of the Brain. Greenfield has a great facility for explaining tricky scientific concepts in language that is engaging to all readers. She presents the basics of contemporary thought on consciousness as they relate to her own theory involving a continuum of experience between sensual, emotional grounding in the surrounding world and rational, cognitive withdrawal into mental life. Arguing from a wide range of animal and human research, as well as the work of philosophers such as John Searle and Daniel Dennett, she makes her case compellingly but gently, allowing that other theories might also hold in this still-uncharted territory. Looking in depth at depression, drug use, and fear, Greenfield shows how each is explained by her continuum theory and how each relates to the life of the human organism as a whole. Could it be true that as our minds work harder, our hearts lose some feeling, and vice versa? Whether or not the idea withstands time and testing, it is intriguing and thought-provoking, making The Private Life of the Brain essential reading for minds seeking self-enlightenment. --Rob Lightner

Synopsis:

With great originality, celebrated neuroscientist Susan A. Greenfield shows that states of abandon - intensely felt experiences of pleasure, exhilaration, joy and pain - in fact draw us to the centre of the mind. Between emotion and the mind there is no dichotomy, but rather a continuum in which we create the self. With passion and learning, Susan Greenfield addresses the most fascinating aspects of contemporary neuroscience, revealing exactly what happens to the brain when we are in the throes of an intense experience. How do drugs act on the brain? How might an understanding of the science of emotion help us better understand schizophrenia and depression? What is the relationship between pleasure and fear? Why is it impossible to maintain a state of high arousal for more than a brief period? Challenging a series of common assumptions about the relationship between emotion and the brain, Susan Greenfield finally asks whether "mind-blowing" experiences might in fact form the basis of consciousness. Informed by the most recent neuroscience, "The Private Life of the Brain" develops new models with which to answer these questions.

About this edition

• Publisher: Allen Lane
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0713991925
• ISBN 13: 9780713991925
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 258